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"The simple way to a leaner, stronger, greener lifestyle. "The greatest thing we can do in life is to be a beacon for positive change. Show how amazing we can be!"." - Jon Hinds, Founder Monkey Bar Gym

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Over the last few years i've begun to listen more to what my body is saying and actually doing what it wants more and more now:) haha Took long enough:) but it's funny we think we wear a superman suit under our clothes and constantly think go, go, go!! Must improve, must work harder, must push through....this is our subconscious mantra! So recently i was thinking man no one and i mean no one can constantly improve, we all have stress, set backs...LIFE happening that gets in the way of it:) So i began to think on this and it made sense we generally have 4 Ways to get to either stronger OR wronger with our health:) Now what i'm talking about here is for folks who train:Train properly & Recover properly = Feel great! Stronger, Healthier! This happens when your training matches your recovery, SO the training is planned and progressed and the recovery is planned as well. Train properly & Recovery poorly = Fatigued often, no improvement, injury is more likely in this sta…

MBG 1 - been doing Eischens Yoga beginner sequence 3 breath holds, sleep has been medium last few nights (having both dogs back:) averaging about 6-7 hours a night, so that's getting better!MBG 2 - my second week of training under the radar:) keeping things simple....today i picked it up just a bit but had NO expectations = it turned out pretty good:) hahaAssisted Muscle Ups (2 green, 1 red PJs) - *16, 14, 14, 14 surprised i broke my record on this:) haha look what a little rest can do:) and listening to mind/body:)Assisted Muscle Ups (2 greens) - 4 x 4 (very happy with this as my record here is 7 with 2 greens but that was totally fresh at the start of a workout, so hey hey hey:) Power Push Up push ups (1 green) - 4 x 10 (very strict reps with pause at bottom 1" and top of each rep)after this stuff i felt i was done so stopped and feel pretty good:) 3.8* it's not my most intense training ever, just matched how i felt perfectly and left feeling real good!:)MBG 3 - green t…

Since getting up to madison monday i've pretty much been in meetings all day long both days = me tired:) Also been watching my 3 cats here and Nuka....sort of crazy:) haha
At first i was overwhelmed by it all, my business is BUSY, meetings, dog, cats, fatique, not much energy to train....so what did i do today? I listened to what my body & mind asked and you know what it turned a tough day into a pretty darn good day:) Yeah i did not train hard yesterday (4 rounds of partner push ups and body rows with my friend jeremy 6-1, not the usual 10-1 and it felt great!. Did it again today, a few sets of power jumper squats, hip extensions and HLR's too...that was it...but i felt okay:) I'm cool with it, what i'm writing and sharing tonight is my lesson my dog Nuka taught me, you see Nuka is a rescue dog, she's very scared of alot of things and doesnt listen to me alot:) Doing my best to be good at doing the heel, sit, etc thing, but getting frustrated with it cause th…

At the beginning of this week i was preparing to take it up another notch for the 5th straight week, but a funny thing happened....i didnt:) haha. After not having the best sleep over the last few weeks i guess it began to catch up with me....doing my best to sleep well each night but i guess the stress of a growing mbg got me a bit at night and it affected my training starting on monday and continued all week til today....SO i had a choice, one i mentioned to all via video a few weeks ago. To not stress over not improving each week, it happens:) it's OKAY:) haha So what did i do this week, i accepted that i'm not feeling great, that it's okay if i just play this week and enjoy movement, simple movement, focus on my alignment, eat like a champion and do my best to rest when tired and sleep when sleepy.

This week i did not try to break any PR's, but focused 100% on recovering my energy and vitality. I feel alot better today and look forward to monday and this weeks trai…

hardest power wheel core workouts we've ever??? (DO YOU AGREE? IF NOT WHAT POWER WHEEL WORKOUT IS THE HARDEST?)...GOAL 200 plus yards while doing the 15/15 x 5 minutes (2.5 minutes of actual pw crawling)....after these guys were TOAST!!:) to tell you how hard this was they made 198 yards!!! haha and could not make 200:) Crushing is how i saw it.....you got to do 20+ yards each set (10 total sets).QUESTION FOR YOU!! DOING THIS 15/15 X 5 MINUTES POWER WHEEL CRAWL WORKOUT HOW FAR CAN YOU MAKE IT? WHO CAN MAKE THE 200 YARDS????:)MBG 1 - rest, recovery, sleep: Been working alot lately and it's been hitting me pretty hard so monday i tappered down my workout and today did the card deck 80% intensity and feels pretty good. Did a solid Eischens Yoga session last 2 days as well and the new higher level poses although very challenging which i like, they are feeling pretty good:) Sleep - still not good, too much on my mind, sleeping maybe 5-6 hours a ni…

Keeping it simple is something i strive for....simple is good, simple makes me happy....SO what is a simple day? THAT is the question haha!! For me it's NOT getting too worked up about work, nothing is that serious, but sometimes it seems like little things are the biggest most important thing ever huh:) QUESTION FOR TODAY....HOW DO YOU KEEP IT SIMPLE?
I keep it simple by keeping my work to X amount of hours a day instead of just working and working all day, getting outside and riding my bike over driving which here in chicago is a major hassle:) haha, doing my workout anywhere with simple bodyweight exercises, eating my meals i love and then hanging out with jessie.....it's a process no doubt and i can always grow here so what are some things you guys do to make work easier and less stressful? As well as other parts of our lives.MBG 1 - Did Eischens Yoga for about 2 hours last night, indian clubs, chest expander drills.MBG 2 - todays training 15/15 x 5 minute each sectionAss…

It is incredible how much a business can grow on you and then suddenly ya feel the weight of an elephant on you....man i love how the MBG is growing...it's just a bit overwhelming at times:) Jess and i have been attempting to take a two week vacation for .... maybe a year and it's not happening:) So we went to the badger game to let off some steam and it was great! The last few days have been overwhelming with meetings, work, training and teaching....whew:) So sleep has been rough a bit and noticing it a bit in my training....just a bit:) haha SO been focusing alot on my yoga and really working to make it a Deep Practice....what is a deep practice you ask....WANT TO LEARN then get the book the Talent Code....awesome book..it's when you decide you 'must' do this, you have to do it alot, it's in you deep inside that you want to live it, breath it. A deep practice is something that you do on a daily regime for an hour a day minimum....brazilian soccer players did …

Man this was an amazing game!! Just a blast and a memory forever!!!!:)
After training on saturday morning jess and i drove to indy and this was an experience!!
The whole atmosphere at the game was extremely high energy....the runs were crazy, up
21-7, then MSU's up looking strong....then the 4th quarter finish....man it was probably the
most exciting game i've ever been at simply cause the momentum shifts kept you thinking
it's good, it's bad:) haha

SELF EVAL part 2: In talking with a student yesterday he was talking about the last blog and how
he liked what i asked....looking serious at yourself in the mirror. He asked to explain it more..so what i said made me think, i got some more explaining to you all as well. When you look at the man in the mirror really look at all aspects; skin (fresh or gray looking?), eyes (bright or dull?), hair, posture (arches collapsed, knock knees, rotated hips, sway back, rounded upper back, internally rounded shoulders, twisted s…

Erin changed up yesterdays stamina workout to a wicked card deck....it's hitting em right here!!!:) hahaQUESTION OF THE DAY: What do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you beat yourself up for not being a perfect model? Are you never satisfied? OR are you the one in a million who gives yourself props...looking good!! OR do you simply not judge and look to see if you look clean or not without any negativity? I ask this because in hearing people beat themselves up for so many years and doing a bit myself:) I just wanted to ask and hear what most people say. Guessing most beat themselves up a bit and are never satisfied. IF this is the case, here's a little thing i do that i learned a great lesson from an overweight client along time ago:) She was a very sweet lady, about 200lbs and maybe 5' tall:) The lesson was simple, she saw me working out and looking at myself in the mirror (now i said this was a looooong time ago:) haha....anyways she said have you ever tried to no…

Here is a video of an awesome Power Plant Meal Jessie made.....it was Off the Hook!!!:)
Today was a very busy day, testing out some new products (cant tell you yet:), Did a photo
shoot for the Wisconsin State Journal at MBG Madison....it's been 10 years since the WSJ
did it's original article on my MBG and alots changed since then:) It was very cool and we
had alot of fun during the shoot, the photag Craig was cool and he had a blast shooting
the noon class. Then after a quick smoothie stopped by the brand new Lifeline USA building
which is huge! and we worked on two of my new products, then we drove back here to chicago!
Whew long day:)FUN QUESTION OF THE DAY: If you had to do an MMA fight against a hollywood star who would it be and why? haha It could be someone you dont like:) someone who's funny:) whatever!!:) MBG 1 restoration & sleep - did some warrior poses, indian clubs and my shoulder routine with the chest expander. For sleep went to bed later than i wanted …

Traveling and fixing back pain - sitting in a car, plane or train you can jack your back up....WHY the seats are shaped the opposite way of our backs i'll never understand...instead of having lumbar support the seats cave your back in??? What's that all about? What person thought that up and WHY is it still in place??? Ahh oh well, it is what it is:) So how do you deal with the negative affects of these seats? First off, stay on your path of doing your Eischens Yoga beginner sequence every single day...even if it's ONE BREATH each pose, it does wonders. Put a big focus on your breath, get into the pose, breath in, breath out, move to next pose...it's simple but it works...quickly you'll find yourself holding each pose for 2-3 breaths or longer:) After the base sequence is done make sure then to do rest pose, get in a completely comfortable position while laying down, breath in (nose), breath out (mouth), focus purely on each breath...work your way from 4:2 counts a…

Check out how awesome the Power Jumper is for assisting Muscle ups (my good friend Paul Fogg made me re-think this one we tried out over a year ago in madison and the bar system didnt allow for it but when i saw him doing it on a weight rack on a video and i knew i had bars that could make it work i had to try it:) and....of all the MU"s i've ever done from JGXT to jump to walk ups this is easily the best way to assist them....I began using 2 bands to assist (maybe 60lbs of assistance)....and it helped a good amount and enough so that i can work on breaking my bad habits of kipping so much (kip then pull is the bad habit)....with the Power Jumper assisting me i can work on my technique and working to stay close to the bar and IF i use my legs...to use them at the same time that i'm pulling, not after. This works perfect my friends and because of the way the power jumper lays it doesnt give to much and then drop off to nothing which is great!QUESTION FOR YOU ALL: and pleas…

Well my friends i've been writing my blog for a little over a year now and it's time i work aloud on one of my biggest challenges i've had in my training life......SLEEP! Yep:) this is a challenge i've had since i was a little boy staying up late to make sure everyone was home and asleep first, then i could go to sleep:) Well for some reason i still have a big challenge getting 8 hours sleep a night....most of my life i get about 5 hours a night and i must admit this makes training hard very difficult. SO, because of this i havent felt as strong as possible alot of the time. SO i decided to infront of all of you....to do something about it, to put myself on a sleep workout plan....to focus on my sleep, to learn about it, to apply what i learn like i apply to my own workouts. So although i know alot of my issues from my younger days mentally jack up my sleep....it time to face it head on and get myself sleeping like a champ. SO from now on i'll be posting my sleep,…

Got to say this is the best MBG Training cycle we've ever done! Todays workout was insane! Made even more insane by the fact Jess and i wanted to add in more bodyweight to the mix today and totally crushed ourselves:) haha Ah well now we get to rest and recover til monday!WHAT IS THE GOAL OF YOUR TRAINING? To look a certain way? To be connected to your body and mind? To feel amazing, happy and healthier than ever? Or to feel a part of something amazing? OR TO HAVE IT ALL?
Well my friends....i think alot about training, why i love it so, why i opened my Monkey Bar Gym and why it is such an amazing place....because it is true and honest, it's simple, strong, a place all can come to and feel a part of something special and positive for people and planet. It is crazy....The VIBE goin on right now at the MBG's is what i dreamed about over 11 years ago when i first opened....seeing the love people have for teaching and training at MBG's is priceless. Just loving it my friend…

The word is out my friends and it is GOOD!! This 8 week MBG Cycle is amazing!!:) During the last 8 week cycle alot of you gave us some great feedback and we listened and applied it to this cycle and already all the members here and online have said they love it! I got to admit i'm feeling pretty dang good myself too from the first 3 workouts this week....sore but good!!SOME QUESTIONS ASKED: (what are some more you'd like to know?)Can we add some legs into the Monday and Wednesday workouts for those of us that only train M, W, F....so we added the LEGS BUYOUT and man they are wicked hard! Another question on todays workout was How do i do the Bar-barian test part if i am not at the level of passing it yet? Simple my friends...you have 6 minutes, 1:12 at each of the 5 stations or exercises. Do your best to hit the requirement...if you hit it, cool, move on to the next one, if you drop early, you're done, write down what you did. No stopping and resting and then starting bac…

Cool video of China Town Playground in NYC:) Feels great to be starting with this new 8 week cycle, Todays workout is Either
a prison 10-1 of press ups and pull ups (L seats) OR 20 minutes amap of each exercise:
Since getting back Jessie and i have been playing catch up and feel like starting the new
8 week cycle is right on time for us as we've just gotten caught up and we're ready to get started!
Part of that was resting the last few days, doing alot of restorative work and Eischens Yoga poses
and also shopping like crazy the last two days so we eat 100% of our meals at home! That is such
a positive way to eat it's incredible. Saves money, gets you eating cleaner, you control everything you eat...that is a huge point....more focused, more results. Knowing what you're eating ahead of time relaxes your mind and gives more confidence for your day and plan!Follow your plan for: eating (clean), 8 week cycle (simple strong and progressive training) and restoration (eischen…

Here is a great strength and stamina JGXT Travel Workout i did in my BK hotel room!
This is how it goes; 10-1 style but you stay with that same exercise until done with it, resting only the same amount of breaths as reps that you just did...so do 10 reps, then 10 breaths, then 9 and 9, 8 and 8 etc til done. It amounts to a great strength workout with the added bonus of stamina work too!!HOW DO YOU TRAVEL AND STAY HEALTHY or MBG 3?
Well that is simple and here are some of my guidelines: No doubt you do not have control of these so you do the best you can on all points.Travel to places i like to go and visit, places that have great energy!See people i want to hang out with... people that have great energy!Stick to your schedule as best as you can. This is huge to making sure you get stuff done everyday for yourself and if your like me training and eating are big parts of that:)Make sure wherever you go it has many healthy options / places to eat...ask before leaving if needed.So the bi…

Here's a GREAT SMOOTHIE video i pulled out as i cannot load ANY pictures or videos tonight???? ODD oh well this is a very tasty smoothie and thought it might help some of you to see me make it...i know watching first hand helped me alot:) Fun Sunday here in Brooklyn, after a long day of about 8 hours on saturday, today was all on the bikes and just a quick workout in my hotel room with the JGXT:) rode about 25 miles again today, mostly following the marathon path in BK, then did 5 laps of prospect park in brooklyn....beautiful park!! ever get a chance check it out....i'm really digging brooklyn, really cool neighborhoods and people:) It's really interesting how many cool people the Bar-barians hang out with:) haha Like attracts like....this is something we talked about on the ride too.Last night i was talking to some people and this lady was saying that everyone in her family is likely to have cancer....and she said nothing she can do...it's her genes....i said it'…

Jessie and i just got our new puppy two nights ago at a dog rescue in oak park...we named him Stoney:) he's awesome:) Nuka is already playing with him like he's her baby:) very cute:)
He's a good puppy and we're very happy and so is Nuka and that is a big reason we got him...for her:) MBG 1 restoration - in doing my Eischens Yoga this morning i focused purely on maintaining extension completely on all poses...feeling it fully on each pose, no parts of my body NOT feeling extension...that was and is my focus...can i make each part lets say while in standing mountain to feel engaged in extension? That is the challenge and the key to really feeling amazing while doing EY, at least for me it is and it works....IF you focus on it:)MBG 2 training - Jessie and i trained together today and as we are both training for the Bar-barians requirements we want to put great focus on improving on the muscle ups, dips, pullups, push ups and more muscle ups....SO we thought lets get the …

Man training and eating has been really strong the last few days and that is always good:) Since the MBG Intensive course finishing up on tuesday we've been back here in chicago and the training has been good, maybe due to chillin' after the course a bit, or my Bar-barian brother rick being in town with us which is always fun:) or maybe it's just being back at MBG Chicago:) Either way today before rick went back to nyc we thought we'd do a special quick workout today...my favorite 15/15 x 10 minutes workout doing.....bar muscle ups:) Now Rick is a master on this exercise but he wanted to try this workout out and so this was very very cool.Rick not only did it, but he crushed it with NO MOMENTUM MUSCLE UPS at all and the first 2 minutes he even added did slow negatives!! Man i was tripping at how controlled and easy he made it....he did sets of 3 for the first 5 sets and then finished with sets of 2 the rest of the way for 45 total perfect form bar muscle ups in the 10 …

Man another awesome day! 9 more hours of intensive, had a great workout with jess and rick, then an off the hook meal tonight! Today we rounded up the end of the intensive and tomorrows the big final exam. The way all the students have been looking so far though i think it's a shoe in that this whole class will pass as they got a really great understanding of what the MBG way really is. Over the course we've worked about 9 hours each day, covered our training technique on how to re-align and heal all aches and pains with Eischens Yoga alignment to walking on your hands, bar muscle ups, approach jumps, sprints, power wheel plyo jumps, how to eat plant based and then how to put it all together Monkey Bar Gym style with the 8 week training cycle and our program design.
It's really been an great group and it's been a really big pleasure teaching this course!:)MBG 1 - Eischens Yoga and restoration: did the EY beginner sequence first, then did an hour of partner feedback aft…

Man my friends i wish you were all here to share in this awesome course!! The info, the discussions, the constant seeking of the truth is what we are all about. Must say the truth shall seriously set you free and that is something I LOVE about what the MBG is all about. Getting to the marrow of fitness, balancing the body thru alignment and nutrition.What IS Fitness? To me it is having the ability to do any movement i want at anytime without reservation of doing it...from running a sprint to running a mountainside, pushing a car to walking on my hands down the street, to breakdancing all out, anything, anytime....no reservations, no hesitation....just pure joy of expressing myself fully thru movement!!What is a TRULY balanced body? To me having a TRULY balanced body means having a perfect balance of stability & mobility, not being limited by tightness, looseness nor pain but feeling light, aligned, balanced and supple...so in balance that the mind and body are peaceful and at ease…

Really solid day today:)....feeling great tonight!! The above picture shows Jeremy (MBG Chicago) and two of MBG friends and trainers Darren "Don Juan" (from DC) and Pete "Silky Smooth" (from Cleveland) and their two friends who all ran the race...they said it was alot of fun and makes me want to do it next year:) Stephon Curry of MBG Madison did it too and did great! He said they did great!! So that is all good:)QUESTION FOR YOU: What comic type movie best describes YOU? :) Think about this, a movie that might be sort of a super hero or cartoon character that others or yourself might say is you!!
Mine is Hellboy:) haha Jessie and others have said dang he's alot like you:) Big head:) (thanks:) loves pancakes and cats (true big time) and is sort of into training:) (true:) haha and likes to take on challenges (true) and the horns on his head even...i have a bump on my head still from breakdancing and spinning on my head!!:) haha so sort of there:) Complicated!!!!!…

Simple Power Wheel video doing tiger push ups....GREAT STRENGTH EXERCISE that improves shoulder mobility, movement skill and strength no doubt!!:) Try this gem out my friends...you'll dig it!!MBG 1 restoration - played around this morning with some very cool variations of Eischens Yoga feedback and man it felt great! Gonna keep working on this as it went great and no doubt it can evolve into something very cool to show you all:) Today also went to the club industry show at the mccormick place and showed our stuff for a few hour and then jumped on a water massage table and man that was sweet my friends...not bad stuff:)MBG 2 training - after working all day, doing some training with a local high school team (on that note chicago public bball is WAY stronger, bigger and athletic than madison wi:) haha ....can you say DANG! haha Anyways worked all day and could only lightly train at about 7:30 tonight...so kept it simple: did 5 sets of 20 of:
Power Wheel tiger push ups...actually rol…

VIDEO: Yesterday just was feeling great so i went for it:) 1,000 yard Power Wheel crawl in 45 minutes!!:) This is a PR and broke my previous best of 480 yards on my birthday June 4th of 21 minutes by getting 500 in 20 minutes...so my pacing was great and after i really felt amazing!! It's incredible how it makes you feel opened up and healthy!!:)
When doing this yesterday never did it take more than 3 sets to make 100 yards, usually doing 45, 30, 25 to get to the other end of the football field and that worked great! It did get hard to keep doing that at the end though as the last 100 was tough:) hahaMBG 1 - Still doing Eischens Yoga beginner sequence each day and that feels great and the pw crawl actually made my posture feel amazing!!!MBG 2 - Yesterday did the crawl so i thought today being eager to train again:) haha i did some c-band resisted bar muscle ups to non resisted, then some pull ups with c-bands, then some L seat chin ups with c-band and again a great workout!!Bar Wa…

Tried this out today with the power wheel and it was pretty cool:) Try it out!!
Unbreakable was awesome today!! Back in Madison for last few days and my energy is
coming back so decided to train again today after a few days off.MBG 1 restoration - been doing Eischens Yoga every day again lately and man it is bringing me
back to feeling good again:) Simple note....doing EY even in it's simplest form reaps incredible results. This can be in the form of of 1 second or 1 breath holds all the way up to 10 count slow holds on every pose...thinking of "Feeling" engagement on all poses thru activity and extension! FEEL!! Extension all the way thru the body....really 'feel' the body being engaged fully on each pose! THAT IS THE KEY!!MBG 2 training -
First checked myself on the Bar-barians requirements again...this time with perfect form only:) Well it was a bit different:) haha:) Since i did not do proper muscle ups i double them up with 10 walk up muscle ups...ugly but i…